Keep up to date with today's breaking news and opinion on our Boro live blog which brings you breaking transfer news, as well as views, opinion and a whole lot more about Middlesbrough FC .

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On today's blog, we start the build-up to Saturday's game against Everton, including the verdict of the Boro boss on the tough test against the Toffees. We'll also hear from Everton boss Ronald Koeman, who will hold his pre-match press conference today.

'The main thing is to make this group stronger'

“The main thing is to be together. At this point of the season we’ve done this before and I think now when you have four months to finish it’s always good to spend days together.

“When you’re at home you train and go home, here we train, we spend 24 hours together and with the new players we have as well the main thing is to make this group stronger.“The biggest difference is after training we have lunch together, we share time together in the meeting room, and the players are together, and it’s good for the group.

“When you are together 24 hours a day you speak about everything. How we started, how we are now, and for the future. The only way is to keep together and to fight together.”

16:19Adam Steel

Catch him if you can

As we all know, Boro’s very own Speedy Gonzales Adama Traore has been earning some rave reviews this season.

Here’s a round-up of the exciting former Barcelona and Aston Villa winger’s stats - and all of the opinions on him that matter.

16:07Adam Steel

Capacity crowd on the cards for Boro-Everton

Everton came to the Riverside for a League Cup clash in December 2015

Ticket sales have almost reached the 31,000 mark for Saturday’s clash at the Riverside.

Koeman impressed by Boro and the gaffer

The majority of his presser was spent talking about his future and Lukaku’s future, but here’s what he had to say about Boro.

“They are doing well and fighting, which is what everybody was expecting. It’s not easy to come from the Championship and stay in the Premier League.

“They’re doing well. Their manager is experienced and has worked with some big coaches in Europe. He has the possibility to show his qualities this year and if I look at Middlesbrough, they’re a really well organised team.

“They’re in a position in the table that everybody was expecting. They make it difficult. They only lost 1-0 to Tottenham, which isn’t a bad result.”

Saturday's game - the view from the Everton end

For all the talk about different facets of his game and improvements that can made, Lukaku has evolved into a premier finisher.

Those clinical instincts will be needed if Everton are to scale the top six places between now and the end of the term – starting at Middlesbrough on Saturday.

While Bournemouth were content with an anarchic 90 minutes of football, Aitor Karanka’s men will clog the game up. Their finest performances this season have been founded on defensive cohesion, touch tackling and physicality.

Everton are in a better position than any in recent years to cope under such circumstances and as was evident in the shift in personnel on Saturday, Ronald Koeman has plenty of options to hand. Crucially, in Lukaku, he has a thoroughbred game-changer too.

Middlesbrough's George Friend in action against Everton earlier this season (Image: CameraSport)

13:31Dominic Shaw

Oh my...

On the subject of Strachan...

13:23Dominic Shaw

60 today

Gordon Strachan.

Gordon Strachan

Now in terms of happy Boro memories, there aren’t many.

But there was this...

13:06Adam Steel

Good refereeing omen for Boro?

Premier League referee Mike Dean

Wirral-based Mike Dean will be the man in the middle for Boro against Everton on Saturday.

His gaff may be too close to Merseyside for some Middlesbrough fans’ liking, but Boro boast a two-match unbeaten record this season with Dean in charge of them.

Dean was the main man in black as Boro played out of their skin in the goalless draw at Arsenal.

And he was on whistler duty again when they beat Hull 1-0 at home.

12:25Dominic Shaw

Kalas comparing his time at Fulham & Boro

Ah, Tommy-K. It’s been a while.

And this post has got nothing to do with him joining the squad in Benidorm!

He’s enjoying himself at Fulham this season, who have been going well under Slavisa Jokanovic.

Kalas has made 23 appearances so far and is enjoying a regular spot in the heart of the defence, which wasn’t necessarily the case at Boro.

I thought that Jordan Rhodes had a positive debut. His touch looked excellent, his willingness to chase down defenders and make a bad ball into a good one was very encouraging and I’m sure he’s going to take a couple of games to settle in and find his feet.

Finding the back of the net in the next game or two will go a long way in doing this, as no matter how confident you are as a player, joining a new club with different players, some you may know, others you don’t, is a daunting task for anybody.

I am sure he will have been pleased to get a couple of training sessions in before being thrown in at the deep end at Wigan but even so, it will take a little time to settle in.

People have asked me if I think it is a good signing and I would answer with this.

I would imagine nearly every club in the Championship would have been delighted if Rhodes had joined their playing staff this transfer window.

His record speaks for itself and since he has joined the club he has spoken about his affinity with Sheffield Wednesday and that can only be a further positive.

Jordan Rhodes made his Sheffield Wednesday debut in the 1-0 win at Wigan

12:01Adam Steel

Koeman crackers

When it comes to Boro-Everton on Saturday, it’s probably a good thing that Toffees boss Ronald Koeman’s playing days are behind him.

The strawberry-blond Dutchman was some sweeper in his prime, with this Tweet describing him as ‘dominant, extremely tough and crafty’.

Known for his cannonball free-kicks, he couldn’t half bang in the goals as well.

Baptiste on the way back

The 31-year-old suffered a knee injury in training while on loan at Preston last month which was initially thought to be a season-ender.

But it turned out to be less serious than first thought and he should be ready to returning to training with the Lilywhites in the next few weeks after splitting his rehab time between Rickliffe Park and Lancashire.

Baptiste could certainly do with a bit of overdue luck on the injury front, couldn’t he?

He suffered a broken leg on his Boro debut in a pre-season friendly at York and has only made one League Cup appearance for his parent club.

11:27Dominic Shaw

On the subject of blasts from the past

I think this is what is known in the social media trade as a #TBT.

11:24Dominic Shaw

A year ago tonight

A year?! Already?!

There were so many goals in the second half of last season which you could make a case for being the most important.

This one from Rhodes, his first for the club, was right up there.

10:56Dominic Shaw

Pundits split on Boro's survival chances

Martin Keown, Jamie Redknapp and Chris Sutton (obviously) have been talking the battle at the bottom and who they think will stay and go.

They’re split on Boro, with a lack of goals the recurring theme.

One of the three has Boro to stay up, two think they won’t quite have enough.

Here’s what Keown is saying on Karanka’s side:

“The fans are getting frustrated with their lack of tempo.

“Adama Traore could be the real deal but he does not know where he’s going. He is like a Ferrari with a learner driver behind the wheel.

“Aitor Karanka feels he has to control him — he switches Traore to the other wing at half-time so he is always on the same touchline as the manager.

“Boro need a big result and are the most likely team to fall into the bottom three.”

Today's back page

Good morning

Another Thursday, with the attention now turning to that game against Everton on Saturday.

It’s press conference day but it’s a presser with a difference - Karanka is doing it over in Spain where the squad continue their mid-season training stint in the sunshine.

It’s scheduled to take place this afternoon and although it’s in Benidorm rather than at Rockliffe, we’ll still bring you the thoughts of the manager as he looks ahead to the visit of Ronald Koeman’s side.

On the subject of Koeman, he’s on presser duty as well today so we’ll hear from the boss of an in-form Everton side this afty.